Great piece by Confucius’s former colleague, Reuben Johnson, on some crazy, crazy goings-on on Aeroflot.

What makes it brilliant is Reuben’s tying Aeroflot’s cavalier disregard for international regulations with the Russian government’s general conduct.

In a larger sense this episode illustrates the degree to which almost all segments of Russian officialdom now feel empowered to ignore the international standards that are supposed to govern the behavior of nations… [It] is just a symptom of a larger nationalistic attitude that says “what the rest of the world thinks does not matter.”

It is a small wonder that Tunne Kelam, an Estonian member of the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, recently wrote “Europe must stop thinking of Russia as a ‘normal’ strategic partner. The European Union should forget any notion that Russia is a friend, ally or reliable partner. Russia’s strategic interests in Europe directly oppose those of the EU. Moscow wants to split the EU apart and is trying to set old and new member states against each other.”

For the sake of those nations close to Russia’s border one hopes the rest of the EU figures this out sooner rather than later. In the meantime, avoiding Aeroflot as a choice in air travel seems like a wise precautio

Just two things to add. One, the Old Europe vs. New Europe dynamic is going to most powerfully develop where it always does: between Germany and Russia. Germany and Russia have a crazy dynamic. They are powerfully attracted to each other and the complementary advantages they can offer each other, yet their culture and national interests invariably create increasing tensions and clashes, until they’re razing Eastern Europe in between them. They try everything: from dominating the countries in between to simply eliminating them, as in the three partitions of Poland. Right now, they’re in another honeymoon and there’s no threat of war. Russia loves German money and technology, and Germany loves Russian natural resources (Gerhard Schröder loves being Gazprom’s whore) and the (illusory) feeling that they’re finally pursuing the Ostpolitik that will finally, this time, at long last, let the bear and the eagle lie down like lion and lamb, and make Germany the bridge between East and West she knows she can be…

Confucius says: Don’t bet on it.

Second, here’s my favorite Aeroflot story. This happened to a mutual colleague of Reuben’s and mine. This isn’t the usual “they overbooked and so just let people stand in the aisle” or “and then the people brought their animals on board.”

So, Friend is flying back to Moscow with Mrs. Friend, who’s come to visit him in Chişinău, the capital of Moldova, where he’s been working for months. They’re seated in the middle of the plane, just behind the wing. A while into the flight, Mrs. Friend, in the window seat, notices liquid streaming off the wing. She points this out to her husband, a former military guy, who agrees that it is, to say the least, curious, as it doesn’t appear to be raining.

Friend, who speaks Russian, flags down the flight attendant and calls it to her attention. She leans over Mr. & Mrs. Friend, scowls, and walks up the aisle without saying a word.

Mr. F assures his wife that things are going to be fine. A few minutes later, the co-pilot appears. Friend tells him the situation, he leans over, scowls, and walks back up the aisle.

Mrs. F is increasingly agitated. By the time the pilot arrives to scowl out the window, she’s crying quietly.

F (to pilot, in Russian): That’s fuel, isn’t it?

PILOT: Yes.

F: That’s a problem?

P makes ambivalent Russian shrug.

F: Are we going to have enough fuel to make Moscow?

P: We should.

Exit pilot, who—fortunately for all concern—was correct and they landed safely at Sheremetyevo-1.

Fly the scary skies!

Confucius, Œc. Vol.

Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu.